Confessions of an Executive Producer

many happy returns

Over the years I've had a personal policy to return every email and every phone call. I wish I could say I've batted a thousand but I'm in the mid .900's. For the small percentage that have slipped through the cracks, I apologize. If you're reading this, feel free to rail on me in the comments. 

Maintaining this policy is getting more complicated in the digital era. It's no longer just calls and emails. It's text messages, voicemails, direct tweets, facebook message, blog comments. It has become almost a second job. I've gotten into the habit of responding at night while mindless TV fills the silence vacuum. It's a good end of the day cleansing. 

I'd highly recommend the practice with only a modicum of curation. You never know who is on the other end of the communication. What they have to offer or where they may end up. These correspondences often lead to nothing but all of them are learning experiences, both positive and negative. And, if you believe in kharma, it sends positive energy into the world. This brings me to today.

I received an email from a student at the Art Institute of Santa Monica. She is taking a course called Career Development. It's one of her final courses before graduating. Her class assignment was to pick a field of interest then interview someone associated with a company in her chosen industry. For some odd reason she is interested in the film business in particular commercials. She came across Epoch through the LA 411 and inquired about me helping her with her project. 

We had a nice email exchange back and forth. I wanted to know what it was about, how she found Epoch, why the interest in the industry, etc. Before agreeing I asked her to supply a list of questions. 

1) How did you get to where you are today? Lucky Break?

2) Can you share a little about what you do at Epoch Films?

3) What was/are the biggest struggle you encountered in this industry?

4) Who was your mentor?

5) What is your background?

6) What is the best advice you would give to someone like me?

7) Is what your doing now, what you pictured yourself doing?

8) What you wished you knew before you started?

9) What are your thoughts about education? Do you think its necessary to have a degree to be able to work in this industry?

10) What do you find fulfilling about your job?

I was inclined to say YES regardless but the questions were the clincher. They made me think about my own career. How I got here. What I've accomplished. What the future holds. 

Today this soon to be grad is coming to my office to interview me. Against my better judgement I'm allowing myself to be videotaped. Upon first receiving this email and through the ensuring correspondence, I thought it was about doing a good deed, a chance to give back. Now I'm thinking it may be as beneficial to me as it is to her, possibly more so. 

Another lesson in what you give is what you get. 

crashed

I'm on my 4th time zone in as many weeks. The last 3 of those journeys I took planes without wi-fi. Can someone make a constitutional amendment making internet service mandatory on all carriers. Maybe that's an issue Democrats and Republicans can finally agreed upon. Doubtful.

Last Wednesday morning  I opened my computer as I do every morning. A weird icon appeared on the screen. I called The IT guy. He told me my hard drive crashed. Gone was years of data. I hadn't backed up in over 6 months. Smart. It's now in the hands of Discsavers. I'll know my fate by Friday. Pray for me.

I won't get started on the details of chaos on the work front. Lots of goings on that I'm not at liberty share. Not to make excuses but needless to say these are the reasons I've been absent for the last week and change. For those of you who have contacted me wondering where I have gone, thanks for the support. It's nice to be missed. I apologize for going AWOL. Keeping this thing up past a year has proven to be more difficult than I imagined especially without a computer.

Today, I'm writing from London severely jet lagged and unable to amass more than 6 hours of consecutive sleep. It's either the stress of life or the anxiety from not blogging. Maybe a combination of the two. It's probably more a result of mourning the potential loss of my hard drive. 

Thousands of pictures and music. Hundreds of videos. Bank transactions and calendars going back years. Numerous business proposals. Fully written posts. Random ideas for future blogs. Past emails. It's heartbreaking to think about it especially since it was so easily preventable. 

There is a lesson learned in all of this. The obvious is to back-up daily. What's annoying is with the Time Machine program it's never been easier. And, I should be writing all my posts and saving them in Typepad. 

The other scary realization from this episode is my utter reliance upon my computer. I've been a little lost without it. Almost in a daze like experiencing the death of a loved one. I hate being overly dramatic about an inert object but it does feel as if a piece of me is missing. 

I'm starting to recover, well maybe not recover but at least come to grips with it. My drive is still in ICU. There is a chance it will be revived on the operating room table. As the doctor says you can only hope for the best and prepare yourself for the worse. 

Starting tomorrow, I'll be back...and backed up. 

trading places

A few months ago, Dana and I went to a house warning party hosted by our friend Dennis Gibbens. Dennis is the architect who did the remodel of our home five years ago. 

As Dennis gave us a tour of the building he now lives in, Dana mentioned she would love one day to build a house in a similar style. Dennis' eyes lit up. It just so happens he had recently purchased a nice size lot east of Lincoln to develop as a spec house. He asked if we'd be interested in partnering to develop the land for our own house. 

Dana was gung-ho. I was skeptical. I loved our house in Venice. It was a great location. We spent a lot of time and effort re-doing it. Also, I wasn't sure if I had the emotional energy to move, rent, build and move again. I won't even go into the expense. On the flip side, I liked the idea of a big lot especially for the kids. Maybe it would be fun to design something from scratch. Despite my reluctance we moved forward with a plan. Dana and I agreed to explore this opportunity under the condition it wouldn't cost us anything. I can be a glutton for punishment.

We negotiated a deal with Dennis. It was relatively straightforward. We'd buy the lot from him. He would customize a design he had already been working on. His contractor provided us a ballpark estimate to build. All the pieces were in place to upgrade our lifestyle at cost. 

As luck would have it, we sold our house quickly within the range we needed to make this deal happen. We bought the lot and last week we started to get the bids from three separate contractors. This is when our best laid plans started to become slightly unglued.

All the contractors numbers were way beyond the ballparks I gave to Dennis. The specs of the house hadn't changed drastically. Why was I being handed estimates that exceeded my clearly stated means? 

I asked this question to Dennis and the contractors. They told me when asked initially for rough numbers. It was based on square footage. It didn't take into account the quality of materials, degree of difficulty or specific details. Once they dug into the details the "actual" cost of construction became more apparent.

We were now faced with the dilemma of either making cuts in the designs or coming up with more money. Of course Dennis didn't want to cut back on the designs. Neither did my wife. And, I wasn't too keen on the other option. 

I took a deep breath and started to go through the contractors bid line by line. I questioned why things cost what they did. Couldn't they get deals? Lower their overhead and mark-up cost? Remove their contingencies? It all of a sudden struck me. I turned to everyone in the room and said, "This is just like my business."

I pointed to Dennis. I said you're the agency creative director pitching and protecting your creative. Dana, she's the account manager wanting to stand by the creative while simultaneously being sympathetic to the client. The contractor is the production company EP defending his costs and his desire to make something great without it costing him money. The picture started to become clear. 

Dennis turned to me and said, "Then, who are you?"

"I'm the f-ing client!". 

It was at that moment I found personal peace in this process. The contractor gave estimates based on square footage like I give estimates based on price per shoot day. The architect wants to protect his creative vision figuring the contractor will come down and the client will go up if they all want it bad enough. We'll meet somewhere in the middle and get it done. 

Nothing like being in the other guys shoes. I think I prefer my usual day job. 

time flies when you write daily

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of my first blog post.

For those of you who have taken the time to read, comment and correspond, it's very much appreciated. This participation inspired me to continue. Here's a few stats from the last 12 months:

• Guest Bloggers - 14
• Pictures of the Day - 73
• Larry King Rants - 7
• Original posts - 229
• Page Reads - 89,138
• Visits - 48,212
• Unique Visitors - 10,788
• Countries Viewed - 54
• People I pissed off - Countless
• Inspired Readers - Unknown 

The results exceeded my expectations. It wasn't that hard. I had none. 

This whole blog thing started out as a personal plunge into social media. When we opened Dandelion, I didn't feel qualified to preach earned media or pitch content projects without immersing myself in the culture. Through this experiment I was able to better understand the space. There proved to be other unexpected benefits besides alleviating my fear of being dubbed a branded content fraud. 

As I look back, the blog became a professional as well as a personal journal from the last year. I was fortunate to embark in a year that represented great change in our culture, our politics and our economy. It reflected things I thought. Issues I encountered. Experiences I had. Blogging forced me everyday to consider my business and my industry. And, there's more.

The blog introduced me to people I would have never otherwise met. It made me a better writer (or at least a more prolific one). It motivated me to become a more active member of my community. It earned me respect from many the peers I respect. I felt the satisfaction of giving back, the pride of having my opinions heard and the frustration of feeling ignored.

Along with those rewards came a few detractions. I forfeited a lot of free time. I alienated some people. I exposed some trade secret. I left myself vulnerable for criticism often times without my knowledge.

So after a year it begs the question, is it worth it?

I've created a higher profile for myself but what about for Epoch? Or Dandelion? Or other Epoch associated companies? Has it created more opportunities for our talent? Being a principal, I don't speak solely for myself. Is my public opining in the best interest of the partners and staff I represent? 

I also wonder, have I offended more people than I've turned on?  In a business that is service oriented has it done any good to pull back the curtain? To be publicly critical of our clients? Of the agencies? Our institutions and business practices? Are these critiques beneficial or detrimental to the industry? Was this venture in service to my own ego, my own ambitions or a service to the community?

Throughout the course of the year, I've asked myself these questions and countless others. I'll never really know the answers. Maybe it's best I don't. 

I can only say this with certainty. I tried to be fair, objective, constructive, honest and above all else transparent. I tried to spark conversation in a community in need of more dialogue and openness. I may not have alway been successful but not for lack of effort. 

As I approached this anniversary, I thought about calling it a wrap but I've decided only to slow down. I'm going to continue to post Mondays, Wednesdays and do my Friday rants. I'll still walk around with my camera in case I find a good picture of the day. And, if I make a make a good meal, I'll be sure to post the recipes even on off days. 

I hope you'll stay tuned. 

benefits of the biz

Herb & Irene Astrow, my in laws, were married on December 20, 1959. For those of you not good at math that's over 50 years of wedded bliss. That's a long time. 

Dana and her sister, Stephanie, wanted to hold a party to celebrate. At the party, they wanted to create a film to honor this great accomplishment. 

Last fall we shot a few of their closest friends sharing well wishes and memorable anecdotes. We intercut these interviews with media Dana gathered from the past. There were countless photographs to choose from and a surprising amount of super 8 film. Amazing to have so much motion picture footage especially from the pre-home video era. 

Since I'm in production I was elected to help. Lord knows I can't do it myself. I had to call for some back up. Jed Klemow shot the interviews. Sean Fazende cut the film. They both did me huge favors and I'm eternally grateful. Also, thanks to Damian Stevens and the folks at Arcade Edit who allowed me to steal Sean away from his regular duties and use their facility. 

I've embedded the final version. It's worth watching for the vintage footage alone. I normally charge people hundreds of thousands of dollars to recreate something like this and there it was in my father in laws garage. I hope you enjoying watching it even an iota as much as I enjoyed helping to make it. 

Being in this business does have it's upsides.

Herb & Irene's 50 Years and Counting from Jerry Solomon on Vimeo.

to blog or not to blog

I had a rough night last night. I was out at a meeting from 3:30 until 6:15. When I got home, I needed to help Ruby finish her math board game project we'd been working on all week. It was due the next day. Eliza was sick the day before and demanded some attention. I had to eat dinner. And I wanted to catch up with my wife. 

After returning my emails, I sat down to write a quick post. It was now 10 pm. I took the dog out one last time and was ready to write. Then, my cell phone rang. It was from a line producer that was encountering a crisis. I talked to her then talked to the director. It was now past 11. Problem semi-averted. Or at least we had a plan. Still no blog posting.

I laid in bed computer on my lap staring at the blank computer screen. It made me think can I continue to write this blog, do my job, spend quality time with my wife and kids and still do the daily crossword puzzle. 

To blog or not to blog. That is the question. 

passion is no ordinary word

At the expense of sounding like a proud parent, my daughter Eliza is a pretty good athlete. She also likes to compete. And, she plays exceptionally hard when focused.

A few years back, she expressed enthusiasm for learning to play tennis. We encouraged it. It's a great individual sport and you can play it your whole life. She took lessons, participated in a weekly clinic and played in a league. She started to get good. 

This year her school offered team sports as an extracurricular activity. She played basketball in the fall and is playing volleyball this winter. It was a lot of activity so we dumped the tennis league. Eliza still kept with it by taking lessons on Saturdays with her sister, Ruby. 

After a recent lesson, Eliza told me she didn't want to play tennis anymore. I knew from watching her last couple lessons her interest was waning. So did her coach. We talked about it on the car ride home. I hoped between Dana and me, we could encourage her to keep playing. She invested a lot of time and continues to improve.  

Before going to bed, we talked about a girl Eliza use to played doubles with. She isn't as good an athlete. She's not as fast or has better form. What she did do is work and practice hard. She is currently one of the top seeds in her age group. At the moment, Eliza can't beat her although if she applied herself very soon she could. This tale didn't inspire my daughter. 

We then talked about Ruby. Ruby isn't a natural player like Eliza but the girl's got big time heart. Every time out there she is hustling and focused with a smile on her face. She may not become a great tennis player but it won't be for lack of effort. I thought if Eliza could see her own potential was only limited by her passion, she'd stick it out. It wasn't resonating. I stopped pushing. 

You can't make someone love something even if they can excel at it. But if they love something they'll make the most with what they have. It made me realize, great passion without great talent is inspirational, great talent without great passion is heart breaking

Talent and passion. I'd rather have both but if I had to choose one, I'll take passion every time. 

what to do on xmas

I have two more guest bloggers scheduled this week but I had to interrupt the scheduled programming to address the age old question, what do Jews do on Christmas Day? We don't have trees to gather around or presents to open up or family coming over for a giant meal. So with nothing to celebrate or nowhere to go we did what all good Jews should do, we traveled to Monterey Park.

Monterey Park is a neighborhood East of downtown Los Angeles with a very large Chinese population. On Christmas morning it took us 18 minutes to get there from Venice. With normal LA traffic it's somewhere between one and two days. 

We made the trek along with three other families to eat dim sum. My wife organized the outing. After doing much research she determined that the Elite Restaurant had the best dim sum in all of LA. I haven't tried all the dim sum in LA so I can't say with the utmost certainty if this is true but I have to imagine Elite is hard to beat. I know this because I don't even like dim sum and this was awesome. 

 

The place was jammed pack with mostly Chinese and a few non-assimilated Jews. Unlike other dim sum places, they don't walk around with trays of food to pick from, you have to actually order. They provide a very detailed menu describing all the options and accompanied by pictures. We ate tons and tons of stuff. I'd love to tell you everything we had but it was all in Chinese. 

 

It was a terrific experience and the start of a new Solomon Family Christmas Tradition. Now here's the best part. Four families. Fifteen People. An endless amount of servings and a few beers thrown in for good measure. Total bill sans tip, $178. If that isn't a great Jewish Christmas than what is?

 

Of course, we followed up the meal with an afternoon matinee. We went to see "Sherlock Holmes". My suggestion, skip "Sherlock Holmes" and go right to the dim sum. Much more tasty and ten times more entertaining. 

 

becoming art

I love newspapers. Always have. In many ways I mourn their demise although I realized news isn't dead just the platform it's delivered on. I still receive all the information I love. The weekly food section. The movie reviews. The exposes. The crossword, especially the crossword. But most of all I love the op-ed section. 

As a kid growing up in Maryland right outside of Washington, DC. I read the Washington Post. In the aftermath of Watergate, The Post became one of the leading papers in the country trailing only the NY Times in influence. For decades, their top columnist was Art Buchwald. 

Buchwald was a renowned humorist. He wrote books, plays and won the Pulitzer price. He even sued Paramount for stealing his idea to make "Coming to America" starring Eddie Murphy. And, he won. 

Being a memorable figure from my childhood, when he died a few years back I read his obituaries and came across a few personal remembrances. One stood out. The eulogizer talked how Buchwald was an extreme extrovert. He loved going to functions talking, listening, asking question. It soon became apparent that he used this forum for material. His friends started to catch on as many of their discussions and personal anecdotes began to appear in his columns. He use his world as a breeding ground for his writings. His friends often found it annoying but accepted that was just Art. 

I was in NY this week talking to people at the 'Boards Summit, going to meetings in the office, grabbing drinks after work. Unlike Buchwald, I'm hardly an extrovert but in my older years I've become slightly more sociable. After a wonderful dinner hosted by Diane McArter, I went back to my hotel room and wrote down a few notes from the evening. There were a couple conversations that may make a good blog topic. I paused, oh my God, I'm becoming as annoying as Art Buchwald.  

I'm putting everyone on public notice that when talking to me, you are potential blog fodder. I know it's annoying. But, please don't worry. Like Buchwald, I'll honor privacy, be fair in my assessments, attempt to do so humorously, and never be unjustly negative. Unless of course its completely deserving.  

sneak preview

Tomorrow I'll be at the 'Boards Summit. I'm speaking on two panels. The first takes place on Tuesday morning and is called, "Business Unusual". Charles Day and Chris Tardio are the moderators on a discussion about business innovation during these transitional times. I shouldn't embarrass myself on this one. It's extemporaneous bullshitting, plus I know Charles and Chris will carry the weight along with the other panelist.

In the afternoon is the Town Hall discussion "Envisioning the Future". Now, that's an entirely different story. I need to give a prepared speech. Rumor is there is a secret Epoch office pool on at what time during the speech I'll choke. The winner gets their choice of venue for free lunch Friday for the entire month of December. 

Below is a sneak preview of my presentation. As I mentioned last week, I received much needed help from Hudson Lines. He put together the slides that accompanies the speech. I owe him big and intend to pay him back. 

Here's the context. Being the only production company representative on the panel, I chose to talk from that perspective. I didn't feel qualified to layout some futuristic business model. It wasn't me.

The theme is for production companies to become more proactive and less reactive. In short, embrace the new era of transparency and engagement through social media by viewing our culture differently. I'm going to try do this through my own personal exploration. 

A brief on the slides:

1. Intro.
2. Being asked to speak only because I blog.
3. How I found Hudson and chose the topic of this speech. 
4. My first venture into social media.
5. The launching of my blog and building an audience.
6. Tracking my readership growth.
7. The hypocrisy of partnering in a branded content co. without knowledge. 
8. Learning to participate not just observe.
9. Prod companies evolving from gatekeepers of talent to curators of talent.
10. Thoughts on how are models must adapt to support this evolution.
11. The change in media forces us to do so.
12. What we can do to engage and entertain our audiences.
13. An example from my childhood. Texaco sponsoring NY Opera.
14. Another more recent example, BMW films.
15. Striving to gain consumers attention by giving them something in return.
16. All sectors of the ad industry trying to win the online marketing race.
17. How social media helped me build community. And more...
18. Supporting our competitors helps speed up innovation.
19. Innovation only happens through risk and mistakes. 
20. Less predictions. More participation.
21. A look into the future. 

Jerry Solomon - Boards

View more documents from Hudson.

If anyone understands any of this (Lord knows I don't), please feel free to make comments or critique. You can also provide any words of encouragement. Lord knows I need that too. 

Hopefully I'll see some of you there. Wish me luck.